Understanding Dry Eyes: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatments

Having dry eyes can be an uncomfortable experience. The condition can manifest as sensitivity to light, a burning sensation in the eyes, or the constant feeling of something being in them. Not only does it impact your overall eye health, but it can also lead to inconveniences that significantly affect your daily life.

In this blog, we discuss all about dry eyes, offering insights into the causes, symptoms, and a range of effective treatments. Whether you've experienced persistent discomfort or are seeking to bolster your knowledge of this common eye condition, this blog can help you learn more about it.

What is a Dry Eye?

Dry eye is one of the most common eye diseases characterized by a lack of lubrication and moisture on the eye’s surface. It usually occurs when:

• You’re not producing enough tears.
• Your tears drain or evaporate too quickly from your eyes.
• There’s an imbalance of the substances that make up your eye’s tear film.

Simply put, a healthy eye is constantly covered by a tear film. This layer is made up of water and a complex mix of proteins, oils, electrolytes, and antibacterial components. It serves to protect and lubricate the eye.

Each time you blink, the tears wash over the surface of the eye and clear away any debris that may have caught in it. It transports oxygen and nutrients to the front portion of the eye (the cornea), making the surface clear and smooth to give you good vision.

If you have dry eye syndrome, that means you don’t have enough “quality” tears or oils to lubricate and nourish your eyes. Thus, you suffer from constant discomfort that can decrease your ability to perform activities that require visual attention, such as reading and driving a car.

The Symptoms of Dry Eyes

Dry eyes can manifest in several different ways. And if you’re wondering if you have it, here are some of the symptoms you can look out for:

• A sandy or gritty feeling in your eyes.
• A stinging or burning sensation in your eyes.
• Eye irritation when exposed to wind or smoke.
• Hazy vision that gets worse after persistent use of the eyes without rest.
• The presence of a stringy mucus in and around your eyes.
• Difficulty wearing contact lenses.
• Increased sensitivity to light.
• Increased tearing.

You may ask, “How can I have dry eyes when my eyes are always tearing?” While it may sound contradictory, the irritation caused by dry eyes can trigger reflex tearing. These tears are generally of poor quality and do not help counteract the dryness.

The Causes and Risk Factors of Dry Eyes

Dry eyes can happen because of multiple factors. Typically, it can result from exposure to specific environmental conditions like hot, dry weather, high altitude, wind, smoke, and air conditioning. It can also be caused by work that requires intense, prolonged visual concentration such as reading and computer work.

Nowadays, the leading cause of dry eyes is known to be the Meibomian Gland Disease (MGD). It happens when the meibomian glands in the eyelids don’t produce and release enough of the oils needed to protect and maintain a healthy tear film, causing the watery layer in the tear film to evaporate.

Who Can Get Dry Eyes?

While MGD is more prevalent in older adults, it can occur at any age. Possibly because of the common use of digital display devices today, MGD is increasingly seen more often in young adults and children. Excessive use of display technologies like computer screens, tablets, and mobile phones can lead to infrequent blinking called “evaporative stress”¬¬––which can lead to dry eyes.

Other than that, certain health conditions (diabetes, acne rosacea, rheumatoid arthritis, and LASIK) and medications (diuretics, anti-hypertensive, antihistamines, birth control pills, and decongestants) can predispose a person to dry eyes. It’s best to check with your doctors in case you’re experiencing dry eyes from these causes.

Possible Complications of Dry Eyes

Unmanaged dry eyes can lead to various complications that can affect your eye health. If you’re wondering if dry eyes can cause blurry vision, the quick answer is yes. Severe dry eyes can even lead to inflammation of the eye’s surface, infection, scarring, and at worst––the loss of your vision.

Diagnosing Dry Eyes

Like most ailments, proper diagnosis of dry eyes is important in determining the most suitable treatment plan for you. Eye care doctors and eye centers typically use several diagnostic tests to assess the condition of patients. Here at The Medical City’s Eye and Vision Institute, our technology includes:

• Oculus Keratograph™ 5M

  The unique features of the Keratograph™ 5M include a complete battery of tests like the examination of the meibomian glands, a non-invasive tear film break-up time, a tear meniscus height measurement, and a tear lipid layer evaluation. With the Keratograph, eye measurements are done in a few minutes, and all results can easily be interpreted by both patients and doctors.

• TearLabOsmolarity System™

  The TMC Dry Eye Clinic is the first and only facility in the country to offer measurement of tear osmolarity of dry eyes in patients. Through the TearLabOsmolarity System, we can objectively assess your eye’s tear osmolarity to determine the improvement of your dry eyes.

After diagnosis, your ophthalmologist will likely recommend a healthcare regimen for your eyes. Be sure to follow their prescriptions and recommendations to alleviate your dry eyes.

What are the Treatments for Dry Eyes?

The goal of therapy is to keep your eyes well-lubricated and moist.

For symptomatic relief, you can use artificial tear eye drops regularly as advised by your doctor. These come in preservative-free formulations, which are the best choice for frequent use as they help avoid allergic or toxic reactions.

Here at The Medical City, we have advanced technologies available to treat your dry eyes:

• Meibomian Gland Probing and Expression

  Obstruction of the ducts and eventual shutdown of the meibomian gland are major factors in the development of most dry eye conditions. With that, the TMC Dry Eye Clinic developed an evidence-backed protocol for meibomian gland probing and expression to relieve or forestall meibomian gland disease.

• Intense Pulsed Light

  Patients with evaporative dry eyes produce abnormal meibomian gland oil that is thicker than the norm, leading to the obstruction and shutdown of the gland. The pulses of light treatment heats, liquefies, and loosens oil that has clogged the eyelids’ meibomian glands. This leads to relief of symptoms and improvement of the dry eye condition.

• Autologous Serum

  The non-cellular components of a patient’s blood have been known as a beneficial treatment for dry eyes for several years. The TMC Dry Eye Clinic is one of the few centers in the country with an evidence-based protocol for the preparation and dispensing of the autologous serum from the patient’s blood to use as eye drops.

So, if you suffer from dry eyes, ask your doctor to refer you to the TMC Dry Eye Clinic for comprehensive treatment recommendations. 

Preventing Dry Eyes

Being prone to dry eyes can lead to constant discomfort in your life. So, to prevent it from happening altogether, here are some tips you can use:

• Take breaks from screens. When using computers, smartphones, or other electronic devices, take breaks every 20 minutes to look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds. This will help to reduce the amount of time you spend staring at screens, which can cause your eyes to dry out.

• Use artificial tears. Artificial tears can help to lubricate your eyes and relieve dryness. There are many different types of artificial tears available, so talk to your eye doctor to find the best one for you.
• Get enough sleep. When you don't get enough sleep, your eyes can become dry and irritated. Aim for 7-8 hours of sleep each night.

The most important tip you can use to prevent dry eyes is to see your eye doctor regularly. If you have any concerns about your vision or feel any of the symptoms mentioned earlier, be sure to see your eye doctor for a comprehensive evaluation.